Comfort
by YoungTruthLP
Summary: Shepard needs some comfort after the mission on Thessia. Ashley comes to her rescue and makes her feel better. One-shot with slight ME3 spoilers.


Ok, so this is my first fic after playing ME3. Let me tell you - AMAZING! I loved having my old squad back (Ash & Liara) and it was an epic game. I didn't like the ending (as I'm sure there are a lot of people who didn't like it either). Anyway, I felt a lack of femShepardxAshley fics so I wrote my own. I love this pairing and there needs to be more fics written about them.

This has sort of spoilers for the Priority:Thessia mission, so be warned. Also, this is a distraction whilst I think of possible fics for my femShepardxLiara. I might write more fics featuring femShepard and Ashley, but I haven't got that far yet so we'll see where that goes. Anyway, enjoy this little fic :D

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><p>Ashley sauntered up to the captain's cabin. She knew Shepard was hurting after their trip to Thessia, and she knew that the commander needed some company. Not just friendly company, but the company of her girlfriend. She entered the cabin only to find that she wasn't anywhere in sight. She was just about to call EDI and ask her where she was when said person suddenly walked out of the shower clad in just a towel.<p>

"Oh, Ash. Is there something you needed me for?" Shepard asked, looking over at her girlfriend. Ashley could tell just by the tone in Shepard's voice that she was hurting.

"I thought you could use some company after what happened." She took a few steps closer to the commander.

"I appreciate the thought."

"You wanna talk about it?" Ashley asked looking at her damp girlfriend.

"I suppose I could. Let me get changed first."

"Ok."

Ash followed Shepard deeper into the cabin, sitting on the sofa whilst watching the commander move over to her armor locker. She watched intently as Shepard paused.

"Everything ok Skipper?" She got no reply. Shepard just stood frozen in place in just a towel. She got up and made her way over to her girlfriend. "Skipper?" She asked again, placing a loving hand on one of Shepard's shoulder blades. "Is something wrong?"

"Hold on." She said and Ashley stood back a little whilst she watched her girlfriend pull on a pair of black N7 sweatpants. The commander turned to her, clad in her towel and her sweatpants.

"Bailey, what's wrong?" Ash asked, looking into her girlfriend's eyes that were now brimming with unshead tears.

"Promise you won't be mad?"

"No. Bailey, please. Tell me what's wrong." Shepard turned around and dropped the towel to the floor. Across her back was a huge gash. It ran from just under her shoulder blade down to the small of her back.

"Ash?"

"Oh God Shepard!" Ashley pulled Shepard around and into a tight, loving embrace. They stood there like that for what seemed like hours, which were in fact only a few moments. It seemed as if they were stuck in time, just the two of them together. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up." Ashley said as she pulled away, sniffling.

Shepard kept her hold on the soldier, tightening it and not letting her get away. "No. Hold on a sec. Ash are you ok?"

"How did it happen?"

"Whilst we were on Thessia, fighting Kai Leng, he caught me from behind with his blade. I didn't notice it until I got in the shower and I saw all the blood running into the drain. I guess the medi-gel conduit's in my armor kept me from realising I'd been slashed." She looked at Ashley who's eyes were brimming with a fresh set of tears. "Ash?"

"God, Bailey." She pulled Shepard into a tight hug once more, wrapping her arms around her neck and pulling her in closer. She finally pulled away looking deeply into Shepard's eyes.

"You ok?" Shepard asked in a tender voice.

"I think so."

Shepard never took her eyes off her. She reached one of her hands up and carefully wiped away some of the tears that had fallen down Ashley's cheeks with the pad of her thumb. When she returned her hand to Ashley's hip, the black haired woman held Shepard's face with both of her gloved hands and pulled her into a tender kiss. Finally pulling away, they let each other's foreheads rest against one another.

"Let's get you bandaged up, huh?"

"Stay with me"

"W-what?"

"Please stay with me Ash."

"Ok. Let me get my things and get changed and I'll go fetch the med kit from the bathroom."

"Ok" Shepard leant in and kissed Ashely softly before letting her go.

"I'll be back in a minute"

Shepard watched Ashley leave the cabin and grabbed a tank top from the armor locker where she kept her clothes. She slid it on temporarily and sat back down on the edge of the bed, waiting for her girlfriend to return. Not too long after, Ashley reappeared, holding her night clothes. She made sure the door was locked behind her and made her way down towards the bed that she would be sharing with her lover. She placed her clothes down next to Shepard and stood in front of the injured woman, kissing her on the forehead before getting changed into a similar white tank top to Shepard and a pair of Alliance blue short shorts. She manuevered herself so that she was stood in between the commander's legs and pulled her close, holding her weary head against her stomach. She felt Shepard sigh as she nestled herself against Ashley's warm stomach. Ashley held her girlfriend close for a little while longer and was about to let go when she felt a strong pair of arms envelope her waist, pulling her closer to the commander. She reached down and kissed Bailey Shepard's head lovingly before pulling away slightly.

"Bailey?"

Shepard was pulled out of her reverie and glanced up at Ashley dazed. "Hmm?"

"Let's get you bandaged up."

"Ok."

Shepard reluctantly let go and watched Ashley sway up to the bathroom. Even in her current emotional and physical state, she still got dazed by the way Ashley's hips swayed as she walked.

"You like what you see?" Ashley chuckled as she walked down the steps holding the med-kit.

"Huh?" Shepard was woken up out of her daydream.

"I said, do you like what you see?"

"Most definately." Shepard grinned, earning a playful slap from the soldier.

"Enough!" Ashley laughed, batting away Shepard's playful hands. "Let's get you patched up and then we can snuggle. Maybe you could tell me what's going on in that big brain of yours." She playfully poked the commander on the forehead and watched as Shepard just nodded. She got to work on taking out the medi-gel from the med kit. She signaled for Shepard to lift up her shirt, but the commander just took the whole thing off. "Ok, this is gonna be cold." Ashley warned, getting ready to soothe her hands over the wound on Shepard's back.

She sat behind her on the bed and gently massaged the medi-gel into the skin, and the commander gasped at the coldness. "I told you it would be cold." She chuckled.

"Yeah, whatever Williams" Shepard pouted.

"Aww, you're so cute when you pout Shepard!" Ash laughed, kissing the commander on the top of her head before continuing.

"Yeah, well, just keep in mind that you're the only one who's gonna see it!"

"I don't doubt that, not one bit" There was a comfortable silence as Ashley patched her girlfriend up. As she secured the last piece of bandage, Ashley spoke up once more. "Ok, all done."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Shepard turned around and kissed her softly. "Thank you."

"My pleasure." She watched as Shepard got up and put her tank top away, swapping it for an N7 t-shirt. Ashley cleaned up the stuff that was on the bed and put the med kit back in the bathroom before joining her lover on the bed.

She sat back and watched the commander lay on her front next to her. Ashley arched an eyebrow, waiting for the other woman to respond. Shepard felt Ashley's gaze on her and turned her head to look at her.

"You ok?" She asked.

"I should be asking you the same question. I thought we were supposed to be cuddling."

"Oh, right, watch my back."

"I know, come here." Ashley held her arms out and Shepard shuffled over so that she was still laying on her front but still being able to be held tightly. Ashley rubbed soothing circles on the commander's back waiting for the other woman to open up. "You gonna talk to me?"

Shepard looked up at Ashley and smiled, kissing her softly in thanks for her soothing hands on her back before taking a deep breath getting ready to talk about the days emotional events. She snuggled into Ashley a little further and got lost in her warmth and the movements of the soldiers hands upon her now bandaged back.

"I just don't know what to think right now Ash. You were there, you saw it. It was devastating. I know we're fighting this war and I know that there will be enormous sacrifices but it was weird seeing it first hand and not from a report on a datapad."

"I know. It was scary, I have to admit. I've never seen something so terrifying in my whole life. Liara's taking it pretty hard. I can understand why."

"And that comm chatter when Kai Leng took off. It hasn't stopped haunting my mind since we got back. That asari got killed whilst trying to talk to me. I was the last person she talked to. She was screaming for help and I couldn't help her."

Ashley had taken to stroking the commanders hair with one of her free hands whilst the other still massaged Shepard's lower back soothingly. "Shepard, none of us could. Not you. Not me. And not Liara. That asari and her commandos gave their lives to help us in the fight against the reapers. Their sacrifice won't be forgotten Skipper, and if I know you well enough, you will make sure that all these innocent lives that have been lost will count for something in the end, for a better future. All you can do is just move on and make sure they do count for something in the end." She watched as Shepard stared up at her.

Bailey smiled. She leant in closer to Ashley and softly kissed her. "Thank you"

Ashley smiled into another kiss. "No problem skipper."

"Thank you for being here with me. I needed a talk with someone. I'm just lucky that it's you. And I'm lucky to have you, even luckier to have you back." Shepard smiled, kissing Ashley repeatedley.

Ashley sunk down into the bed so that Shepard was on top of her. She held onto her lover's biceps as she kissed her way down Ashley's neck. "I'm lucky to have you too." She only just managed to gasp out a sentence before she lost all control. It was a known fact between the pair, that when given the chance, they could lose all control and get lost in each other in a matter of seconds, leading to doing something completely different from what they had originally planned to do.

Shepard suddenly stopped her ministrations and looked down at her girlfriend. "I love you Ashley"

Ashley caught her breath and looked up at her lover. "I love you too. Now show me how much."


End file.
